The Retreat of New Labour

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The Labour Party under Tony Blair began to do something it had never before managed. It began to win over people who were not its natural supporters. As an obvious consequence it began to do something else that had previously eluded it. It began to win large overall majorities in general elections. The successes of 1997, 2001 and 2005 were victories from which the Labour Party has yet to recover and now David Miliband has concluded this new Labour spell of history by stepping aside.

After Gordon Brown led Labour to defeat in 2010, Mr Miliband, a former Environment and